


Salt

by Cynicwithatwist



Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: Captain Gi-Gan is the best pirate mom, Gen, Other, The start of the narcissistic Jae-Ha we've all come to love, baby green dragon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-18
Updated: 2015-05-18
Packaged: 2018-03-31 05:14:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3965731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cynicwithatwist/pseuds/Cynicwithatwist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone has a story, tribulations etched in their hearts.  This one just happens to be about a boy with an unusual ability and the woman who taught him what it means to belong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Salt

Although Jae-Ha was never allowed to venture from his village, or more aptly his prison cell, he’d done his best to learn about the places he’d never know.  It was an agonizing thought, the idea he’d never have the chance to discover every different swath of the world for himself.  All the wonders of life other children got to experience were reduced to the sensations he could conjure up in his mind from the pages of books.  There were wide open prairies baked under the summer sun, the sharp sent of sage and grass hanging in the air.  He’d visited markets where exotic spices danced on the tip of his tongue and festive tunes created by intriguing instruments greeted his ears. He’d seen oceans and mountains and blizzards, all tantalizing depictions of a life he’d never have.  But Jae-Ha could forget the truth for a moment, lost within the cosmos of parchment and ink.  Then the book would end, the grays of his mundane life seeping into the neons of the make believe. Still, even after all his adventures through books he’d never expected pirates to be like _this_.

They were supposed to be fearsome men, brawny builds with scars and black ink decorating their tanned skins.  Eyes vicious enough to frighten someone to death and mouths sharper than their blades.  They were supposed to be positively vile.  But there before him sat a woman whose face was hard but not unkind.  She didn’t appear particularly terrifying though authority seemed to ooze from every fiber of her being.  The captain no doubt.   

“That’s a pretty stupid thing to do,” she growled jerking her head towards the cliff he had leapt off of, “if you weren’t so lucky you’d be swimming with the sharks.  But I’ll admit kid, that took balls jumping down onto my ship from all the way up there.” 

She didn’t suspect anything unusual about him yet, his safe landing was simply a stroke of good fortune.  That was for the better, Jae-Ha didn’t want to reveal his power until he was sure she could be trusted.  He was _never_ going to be chained up again.

“You got a name?”

Jae-Ha immediately crouched down by her side, “I’ll do anything you ask, just please let me stay.”

The captain snorted in derision, “a snot nosed brat falls out of the sky, ignores my question, and on top of that begs me to keep him on board?  You have no idea how to court a woman.”

 Jae-Ha dug his fingers into the thick lumber planks beneath him as if that would assist in steadying him against both her harsh words and the swaying vessel.  The pinnacle shifted against the choppy sea, drifting away from the anchor only to be forcefully yanked back.  The motion was making him nauseous.  He could feel the captain’s gaze fastened on him, observing, waiting.  If she thought he’d back down just from spewing some sharp words she’d be sorely disappointed.

“Jae-Ha.”

“What was that?”

“My name” he clarified, swallowing in an attempt to moisten his desiccant throat.  “My name is Jae-Ha.  Please let me stay with you, I’ll help in whatever way you need.”

Silence filled the tangy air between them and Jae-Ha counted each second that passed.  Gulls cried into the wind from overhead and the scorching afternoon sun beat down on his sweaty back.  Every once in a while he’d hear the shuffling of feet.  The crewmen were beginning to disperse from the ark they’d formed around the two and return to their jobs. 

Seeds of doubt took root in his stomach, growing until their branches were raking against his hammering heart.  If things continued along like this for much longer he’d have no choice but to show her how invaluable of an addition he could be.  It was a gamble demonstrating his ability to these strangers, the thought itself was greatly unsettling, but if worse came to worse it was a wager Jae-Ha was willing to make.  Nothing could be more torturous than the situation he’d escaped from and ironically, the life of a pirate was much healthier for him than living in _that_ village.  Chances were as long as he stayed with these free ranging rapscallions he’d never cross paths with anyone from home again.  And that was precisely why as a last resort he was willing to expose all of his cards for the opportunity to join.

After what seemed like an eternity the captain finally spoke.

“We’ll see about that.  There’s more conviction in actions than words.  We’re going on a raid tomorrow, if you prove useful and pull some weight I’ll think about letting you stay.  You can sleep in the crew’s quarters tonight.  If you try anything stupid I’ll tie you to a rock and drop you in the ocean, understand?”

“Yes captain” he answered instantly, finally breaking his statue like position to stand.  Relief coursed through his veins and he wanted to thank her but in the two seconds it took to get up she was already half way across the deck.  It seemed she had no more time to spare on the unkempt boy who had fallen from the sky.  That was probably true, Jae-ha was sure a pirate captain always had a hundred and three things to attend to.  Leaders never slept.

“Captain” Jae-Ha called taking a tentative step forward.  He didn’t want to anger her and risk getting thrown off the ship, not after he’d come this far. Even so, the question was burning on his lips.  He needed to know.  “May I ask your name?”

“Gi-Gan,” she called over her shoulder without breaking stride, “Captain Gi-Gan.”

_Thank you, Captain Gi-Gan_. 

 

* * *

 

 

Jae-Ha scrunched up his nose, raking his teeth along the top of his tongue in an attempt to remove the abhorrent taste.  He hadn’t meant to get a mouth full of salt water, or swallow a good portion of it for that matter. He’d been leaning over the deck trying to get a better view of their destination when an abnormally large wave had risen up and enveloped him.

“You’ll get used to it,” one of the pirates chuckled heartily slapping Jae-Ha’s back so hard it practically knocked the air out of him.  “Once you’ve become a real pirate you’ll no longer be able to resist the siren’s call of the sea.”

Jae-ha highly doubted that, he’d never been fond of water in the first place, salt infused or not.  Robust waves and lurking riptides weren’t particularly appealing but he’d make do.  He always had.

Up ahead he could see the silhouette of their target vessel, ebony against the fading beryl sky.  Yellow lamps dotted the deck coating the sparse crew members in shadows. From this distance they appeared more like willowy figments of the night than actual people but Jae-ha wasn’t scared.  What was there to be anxious about anyway, it wasn’t as if he’d be facing off with them.  Captain Gi-Gan had assigned him to the “loading crew” without a second thought.  He’d tried to argue but she was quick to silence his challenge.  _Do you know how to fight, can you use a blade?  No?  Then you’d just get in the way.  Load the supplies_. 

She had a point of course, being locked up for one’s entire existence didn’t exactly lend itself to much combat experience.  But he could learn, Jae-Ha had pointed out tartly, she could teach him how to use those throwing blades.  The corner of Captain Gi-Gan’s mouth had twisted up ever so slightly, the closest thing to a smile he’d seen from the woman since coming aboard.  _If you live through tonight I’ll consider it_. 

Jae-Ha jumped as something circular and thick hit his left shoulder.  A rope.  He took the rough coils in his hands and glanced up at the one responsible for throwing the lariat.  Captain Gi-Gan said nothing, but he was confident he could see fragments of concern embedded in her sharp chestnut eyes.  He nodded in acknowledgement and she turned back around focusing on the clamor arising from the other ship.  They’d noticed the presence of pirates, but it was too late.  Now Jae-Ha understood why the captain had extinguished almost all the lights on deck.

The hulls of the two ships collided, grating against each other in their new found parallel formation before drifting apart ever so slightly.  The jarring motion threw Jae-Ha off kilter and he stumbled briefly before regaining his footing.  The more experienced pirates who were accustomed to shifting ground avoided losing their balance and we already rushing aboard to commence the attack.  Refusing to be left behind Jae-Ha leapt effortlessly over the gap landing on the foreign vessel.

The deck was in complete disarray, surprise attacks tended to cause calamitous reactions like this.  At least, that’s what he’d read in books but this was the first time Jae-Ha was actually witnessing such an event.  Pirates and crew men alike were locked in jousts, both dealing heavy blows as steel slapped against steel.  Those not caught up in sword fighting were either ransacking the pinnacle in an attempt to find the goods, or trying to fortify the area where the goods were so the pirates couldn’t plunder them.  There was yelling and screaming and a faint coppery scent hung in the air.  Blood, he realized.   

“Hey kid” one of the pirates called, “don’t just stand there!  Follow me, we’ve found what we’re lookin’ for.”

Jae-Ha took off after the man, dancing out of the way as a stray blade swung towards him.  He was led below deck through a tight narrow corridor before his guide stopped abruptly in front of a room.  Swinging open the door the man marched inside, Jae-Ha hot on his heels. 

The room wasn’t anything special.  Dull and diminutive it lacked any sort of vibrance or presence, but the pirate Jae-Ha was following paid no heed to the lack of décor.  Jae-ha was a bit baffled as to what this guy was trying to accomplish.  There was clearly no food, weapons, or medicine here.  What exactly was he looking for?

The pirate walked around the room running his hands against the walls and moving objects to check under them.  Finally he crouched down and slid himself under the small table that sat against the far wall.  A second later he reappeared, hand firmly grasping some sort of yellowed paper.

“What is it?”

“A map,” the man replied breezily.  “It has all the ports where transactions occur marked.  This’ll help a bunch in barricading against Kum-Ji’s human trafficking business.”

Jae-Ha wasn’t sure who Kum-Ji was, but he did know what human trafficking entailed.  He found it odd these pirates seemed to be doing something altruistic, they were supposed to be the bad guys.  Perhaps books weren’t as accurate as he thought.

“Let’s go kid.  I don’t hear any movement up on deck so the captain and the rest of the crew must of finished em’ off.”

The two headed up the stairs and once out in the open again Jae-Ha could see that Captain Gi-Gan and her men had indeed secured complete victory.  He wasn’t sure how many of their enemies were unconscious and how many were dead, but he didn’t stop to ask.  He caught sight of the captain leaning against the railing of the ship as she gave orders.  Jae-Ha had just started moving in her direction to ask if he’d passed her test when something caught his eye.

Originally all he could make out was a silver gleam, then his mind processed the entire entity and Jae-Ha realized it was a man of the opposing crew wielding a sword.  Jae-Ha didn’t know how he’d managed to evade all the pirates, but he did know this man was heading straight towards the captain with alarming speed.  He bunched his legs and lunged. 

He hadn’t wanted to expose his accursed power, not yet, but as he tackled the captain towards the sea and felt the blade knick his back, Jae-Ha knew he’d made the right choice.  If he hadn’t used his ability Captain Gi-Gan would have been seriously injured.  Or worse.

The two tumbled into the water with a sharp splash.  They surfaced momentarily, Jae-Ha clinging onto the woman with all his might.  

“Captain, captain!  Are you ok?”

She shot him a pointed look.

“Not if a snot nosed brat continues to hang on to me and drowns both of us.”

Jae-Ha immediately relinquished his hold, backing up a hair to give both of them room.

“I was afraid you couldn’t swim.”

Captain Gi-Gan regarded him silently for a moment before she burst out laughing.  The tremors from her shaking body were strong enough to form little ripples around her being.  Jae-Ha felt his face flush as if he was under a thousand suns.

“I’m a pirate captain boy, of course I can swim.  And that’s some powerful skill you’ve got there.  You don’t have to explain it to me if you don’t want to.  I don’t care when you acquired it or through what means, as long as you use it for the crew that’s good enough for me.  Now let’s start swimming back towards the ship, I’m sure those dumbasses are missing us.”

“Captain wait!” Jae-Ha called.  Captain Gi-Gan glanced over at him impatiently.

“What is it?”

“You’re letting me stay?”

“Isn’t that what you wanted?  Hurry up, we’ve got planning to do.”

Jae-Ha felt his heart swell as excitement buzzed from his head to his toes.  He did it, he was safe.  At last.  His throat and eyes may have burned from the briny ocean water but it didn’t bother him in the least.  Salt had never tasted so good.  

**Author's Note:**

> Jae-Ha and Captain Gi-Gan kill me every time. I love them so much and I hope we get to see them united later on down the line.


End file.
